On 13 January 2006, the Niigata Prefecture investigative commission for formulating standards for the GM crop cultivation regulation by-law finalized its draft (See BJ February 2006). According to the draft, three varieties of crops will be subject to the by-law, and the distances of buffer zones to prevent inter-crossing are set as 57m for GM rice, 10m for GM soybeans, and 600m for GM maize. The distances for GM soybeans and GM maize are the same as in MAFF guidelines, and for GM rice, although it is wider than the MAFF's 30m, the proposed distance is much shorter when compared to Hokkaido's 300m. It is expected that the draft will come before the prefectural council in February, and will be approved at that time.

On 10 January 2006, Tokushima Prefecture announced its "Draft GM crop cultivation regulatory guidelines", and invited public opinions. The draft was made in accordance with the "Tokushima Food Safety and Security Promotion by-law", which includes prevention for GM crop inter-crossing and contamination. The draft requires certain information to be made public, such as prior notification by GM crop cultivators, announcement of GM crop cultivation to neighbouring farmers, and placing of signboards on fields where GM crops are cultivated. The guidelines contain neither a requirement of approval by the governor nor penalties for infringements.

An Investigative Commission on Policy for Cultivation of GM crops (Chairperson, Masakazu Nagaki, Professor of Tsukuba University) in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, will formulate the contents of its "policy" during March 2006. The Commission was established in September 2005 and completed a draft document after four meetings. The substance of the draft focuses on public information regarding GM crop cultivation on farmland by demanding the presentation of a cultivation plan three months in advance, strict controls on inter-crossing and contamination by GM crops, and the obtaining of consent from neighbouring farmers.

The citizens' organization "No! GMO Campaign" announced the results of their genetic survey of tofu (a soy bean curd food product) on 3 February 2006. The PCR method was used to test tofu bought from chain supermarkets and other stores in nine prefectures. As a result, 18 of 44 samples (40.9%) tested positive for GM soy. A special feature of the results of this survey was that 30% (3 samples out of 10) of tofu labelled as "made from 100% domestic Japanese soy" (GM soy is not grown in Japan), and 57.1% (4 samples out of 7) labelled "made from organic soy" tested positive for GM soy. Because the label on the "organic soy" tofu did not give the location of manufacture, it is thought that imported soy was used to manufacture this tofu.

Table 1: Results of genetic survey of tofu
Label	Sample No.	GM Positive	%
No GM soy used	39	17	43.6
Domestic or locally grown soy used*	7	3	42.9
100% domestic or locally grown soy used	10	3	30
Whole soy beans used	6	2	33.3
Organic soy used	7	4	57.1
Organic + domestic soy used	0	0	-
American soy used (or possibly included)	34	15	44.1
Total	44	18	40.9

A new specialist panel to consider the framework of assisted reproductive medicine (repromed) was established by MEXT on 20 January 2006. Based on the final report entitled "Basic Thinking on the Handling of the Human Embryo," produced in July 2004 (See BJ September 2004) by the specialist panel on bioethics under the Cabinet Office Council for Science and Technology Policy, the new panel is to formulate guidelines for the handling of fertilized human embryos in basic research. MHLW also currently has a specialist panel focusing on clinical aspects of assisted repromed, and a joint meeting of both panels was held for the first time on 27 January 2006.

On 18 January 2006, the GM food specialist panel of the Food Safety Commission began the safety assessment for the for the high-lysine GM maize containing the "LY038 trait" under an application for approval as human food and animal feed. This GM maize, which has increased amounts of the essential amino acid lysine, was developed under a joint venture, known as "Renessen LLC", between Monsanto and Cargill, and has already been approved in the USA. When a particular constituent substance has been increased through genetic manipulation, the notion of "substantial equivalence" no longer applies, and it will therefore be interesting to observe how the assessment process will be carried out.

On 2 February 2006, an application was made for the approval of a GM papaya, and this is to be assessed by the GM food specialist panel of the Food Safety Commission. This papaya has increased resistance to the ringspot virus and as well as being widely grown in Hawaii has also been an issue in Thailand, where its illegal cultivation has been widespread. It has been suggested that there is a danger of allergenic reactions to this papaya. An application for approval was made to the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare (as it was at the time) in 1999, but the application was suspended pending the submission of additional documentation.

On 20 January 2006, a blue rose developed by Suntory Ltd. was approved at a meeting of the biodiversity impact assessment investigative commission under the Type I usage rule. (See BJ 05/11 #5) The Type I usage rule means that the GM crops are evaluated as having no impact on wild fauna and flora in accordance with the domestic Cartagena Law and are therefore approved for cultivation in open fields. This is the first time approval has been granted for a plant which can be grown from cuttings.

Table 2) GM crops approved for open field cultivation (Type 1 usage) (Biodiversity Impact Assessment Investigative Commission)
Crop	Trait	Application (Developer)	Name	Approval Date*
Maize	Insect resistance	Monsanto Japan	MON89038	20 Jan. 2006
Soy Bean	Herbicide Tolerance	Monsanto Japan	MON89788	20 Jan. 2006
Rose	Alteration of biosynthetic pathway	Suntory	WKS82/130-4-1	20 Jan. 2006
			WKS82/130-9-1
* Technically, approval is granted after public comments have been accepted.